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I checked; found two gloves and half a pack of Orbit Sweet Mint gum, plus an iPod.
Ryder snatched the music player out of my palm. “Hey, I’ve been looking for this.” Lifting it to flash me a smile, he said, “Thanks.”
With that, he turned his back to me, strode to the window and hauled it up. A gust of wind swept into the room, making me fumble in my haste to slip on the oversized leather gloves.
He helped me climb up through the opening and then pulled himself outside after me. “My truck’s this way.” Grasping my gloved hand, he led me through the dark, all the way to the passenger side door, which he held open for me and even waited until I climbed inside before he shut the door.
I huddled into the warm coat, inhaling the scent of leather and Ryder as he started his engine. We didn’t speak to each other, though he did glance at me quite a bit as he pulled out of the drive and took off down a road.
“Do you know where Mindy lives?” I finally had the presence of mind to ask.
He nodded. “It’s not too far.”
I guess Todd’s house sat on the way to Mindy’s because a few minutes later, Ryder pointed it out. “There’s Stangman’s place…and it looks like he’s home.”
I stared at Todd’s Jeep sitting in the driveway to his house, German in style with cream-colored siding and brown beams slanting diagonally above the garage to the roof.
Ryder slowed his truck. “Would you rather see him…or Mindy?”
There was no censure in his voice, no how-could-you-kiss-my-best-friend anger. He truly wanted to help me in any way he could.
I thought about the answer I needed to give. To be honest, I didn’t want to go to either place. I just wanted to be alone. I wanted to curl into a ball, hide in my bed—the bed at my house, the house I’d left behind in Hillsburg—and just sob the rest of my life away.
But that wasn’t an option.
“I don’t…” I really didn’t want Ryder to know I didn’t care to go to either place; he’d probably try to drive me back to Barry’s. So I cleared my throat and said, “Todd’s, I guess.” I figured he wouldn’t be as interested in hearing about my devastating night as Mindy would be. He’d ask less questions.
Ryder didn’t argue or send me a dirty look for my decision. He just nodded and pulled in behind Todd’s Jeep, killing the engine. Both he and I sat there without moving. For a moment, I wondered if we were both thinking the same thing.
Which girl was inside with him?
A light glowed from one of the windows near the back of the house. “That’s his room,” I said, stupidly stating the obvious as I remembered how Todd had desperately tried to shoo his sister out of that very room so he could lock me alone inside it with him. In case he didn’t have a girl with him, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be alone with him right now. I sank deeper into my seat.
Ryder sighed and turned to me, looking suddenly hesitant. “You know, there’s no need for you to get back out in the cold again. Why don’t I just go get him?”
I didn’t want to see who Todd was keeping company, so I nodded.
Ryder’s shoulders eased. “Be right back.” He slipped out of the truck to hurry to Todd’s window. I rolled my eyes, wondering why no one used a door anymore. But I’m glad he went to the window because I really didn’t want him to wake Todd’s parents and involve adults in this mess.
Lifting his hand to knock on the pane glass, Ryder paused. For a moment, he stood frozen, staring through the window, then he leaned closer as if he wanted to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing.
I watched him, holding my breath. Suddenly, he jerked backward as if he thought he’d been spotted. But he didn’t hover in the shadows, hiding. He whirled my way, his bearing stiff and angry as he stalked back toward his truck.
Inside the cab, I muttered to myself, “Grace, you idiot.” There was no reason for me to sit there, wondering what Ryder had seen when I could just go see it myself. If Todd really was with another girl, I had a right to see who it was.
I pushed open the door and scrambled out. After hurrying to Ryder, I was beginning to ask what was going on when I caught sight of the lethal expression on his face.
“Come on,” he said. His voice was steely, surprising me. He grabbed my arm in a hard, commanding grip and steered me back around toward his truck. It more than startled me; it downright frightened me, not of him but of what he’d seen.
I pulled free. He jerked to a stop to glare at me and once again grappled for my arm, which I kept out of his reach.
“What’s going on?”
“We’re leaving.”
I turned to look at Todd’s house. “Who’s with him?”
Shaking his head, Ryder reached out one more time, saying, “Let’s go.”
